APUSH - Units 6-9: 1 through 50

Interstate Commerce Act

The first federal law to regulate big business (specifically railroads) to ensure fair prices.

Trust

A group of companies managed by a single board to reduce competition and control an industry.

Standard Oil Company

John D. Rockefeller's massive oil monopoly.

Social Darwinists

People who applied 'survival of the fittest' to society, arguing that the rich were naturally superior to the poor.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

A law intended to break up monopolies and encourage fair competition.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A powerful union of skilled workers focused on better wages and shorter hours.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A wealthy 'Robber Baron' who built his fortune in railroads and shipping.

Alexander Graham Bell

The inventor of the telephone.

Thomas Edison

The 'Wizard of Menlo Park' who invented the lightbulb and phonograph.

Andrew Carnegie

A steel tycoon who practiced 'Gospel of Wealth' (giving money back to society).

John D. Rockefeller

The founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in American history.

Gilded Age

A term for the late 1800s—it looked shiny and rich on the outside but had corruption and poverty underneath.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that ended Reconstruction in the South in exchange for a Republican presidency.

Jim Crow

Laws in the South that enforced racial segregation and took away rights from Black citizens.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The Supreme Court case that ruled 'separate but equal' was legal.

Chinese Exclusion Act

The first major law to ban a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the U.S.

New Immigrants

People arriving after 1880, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Russia, Poland).

Political Machines

Corrupt organizations (like Tammany Hall) that controlled city politics by trading favors for votes.

Settlement Houses

Community centers (like Jane Addams' Hull House) that helped poor immigrants.

Yellow Journalism

Sensational, exaggerated news reporting used to sell papers and stir up public opinion.

NAWSA

The main organization fighting for women's right to vote.

WCTU

A group of women who fought to ban alcohol (Prohibition).

Reservation System

Land set aside by the government where Native Americans were forced to live.

Populists

A political party of farmers who wanted to fight big banks and railroads.

Grandfather Clause

A law used to stop Black people from voting by saying you could only vote if your grandfather could.

Gold Standard Act

A law stating that U.S. paper money must be backed specifically by gold.

USS Maine

A U.S. battleship that exploded in Cuba, helping spark the Spanish-American War.

Insular Cases

Supreme Court rulings that said residents of U.S. territories didn't automatically get full constitutional rights.

Platt Amendment

A rule that gave the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuban affairs.

Roosevelt Corollary

An addition to the Monroe Doctrine saying the U.S. would act as a 'police power' in Latin America.

Gentlemen's Agreement

An informal deal between the U.S. and Japan to limit Japanese immigration.

Theodore Roosevelt

The 'Trust Buster' president known for the Panama Canal and conservation.

Social Gospel

A religious movement that used Christian ethics to solve social problems like poverty.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption and social problems (e.g., Upton Sinclair).

Muller v. Oregon

A court case that allowed laws to limit the working hours of women.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

A deadly factory fire that led to new workplace safety laws.

Meat Inspection Act

A law ensuring meat was processed under sanitary conditions.

Pure Food and Drug Act

A law requiring honest labeling of food and medicine.

Dollar Diplomacy

President Taft's policy of using U.S. economic power to influence other countries.

Ida Tarbell

A muckraker who exposed the dirty business tactics of Standard Oil.

Jacob A. Riis

A photographer who showed the terrible living conditions of the poor in How the Other Half Lives.

John Muir

A famous naturalist who fought to protect the wilderness and national parks.

Federal Reserve Act

The law that created the modern central banking system of the U.S.

Central/Allied Powers

The two opposing sides in World War I.

Lusitania

A British passenger ship sunk by a German U-boat, turning U.S. opinion against Germany.

Zimmerman Note

A secret German message asking Mexico to attack the U.S.

Fourteen Points

President Wilson's plan for world peace after WWI.

Espionage Act

A law that punished people for interfering with the war effort or being 'disloyal.'

Great Migration

The movement of millions of Black Southerners to Northern cities for jobs.

19th Amendment

The amendment that gave women the right to vote.